The new exhibit, scheduled to open in December 2003, will, as a NASM press release (available at ) notes, identify the Enola Gay as the aircraft that 'dropped the first atomic weapon used in combat' and describe the B-29 as 'the most sophisticated propeller-driven bomber of World War II,' but will not otherwise explore the historical context of Hiroshima or nuclear weapons.
Udvar-Hazy Center at Dulles International Airport, which will also feature other aviation artifacts too large for the main facility on the National Mall-such as the Space Shuttle Enterprise, an SR-71 Blackbird reconnaissance aircraft, and the Dash 80 prototype of the Boeing 707.
The museum had earlier announced plans to display the restored and fully assembled aircraft at its new Steven F.
A group of historians and activists has delivered a petition challenging the National Air and Space Museum's proposed exhibit of the Enola Gay, the B-29 Superfortress used in the atomic bombing of Hiroshima on August 6, 1945.
